CHAPTER II.

WHEN I had attained the age of seventeen, my
parents resolved that I should become a student at the university of Ingolstadt. I had hitherto
attended the schools of Geneva; but my father thought it
necessary, for the completion of my education, that I should be
made acquainted with other customs than those of my native
country. My departure was therefore fixed at an early date; but,
before the day resolved upon could arrive, the first misfortune
of my life occurred -- an
omen, as it were, of my future misery.

Elizabeth had caught the scarlet fever; but her illness
was not severe, and she quickly recovered. During her
confinement, many arguments had been urged to persuade my mother
to refrain from attending upon her. She had, at first, yielded to
our entreaties; but when she heard that her favourite was
recovering, she could no longer debar herself from her society,
and entered her chamber long before the danger of infection was
past. The consequences of this imprudence were fatal. On the
third day my mother sickened; her fever was very malignant, and
the looks of her attendants prognosticated the worst event. On
her death-bed the
fortitude and benignity of this admirable woman did not desert
her. She joined the hands of Elizabeth and myself: "My children,"
she said, "my firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on
the prospect of your union. This expectation will now be the
consolation of your father. Elizabeth, my love, you must supply
my place to your younger cousins. Alas! I regret that I am taken
from you; and, happy and beloved as I have been, is it not hard
to quit you all? But these are not thoughts befitting me; I will
endeavour to resign myself cheerfully to death, and will indulge
a hope of meeting you in another world."